Pray As If To Save Your Wretched Life, Jacob Says

From the Bible’s first recorded real prayer comes not one but four precious lessons that could change the way we pray to God

Image Source: bible-library.com

By Khen Lim

The context in which Jacob set about praying to God was an ominous one. As he returned from Laban to seek closure with his brother Esau after 20 years of wilful exile, fear gripped him as he reminded himself of his own connivances.

From the story of Genesis 32:9-12, we learn of Jacob’s efforts to appease his brother. Knowing of Esau’s anger at how he was deceived, Jacob sent a delegation of his servants replete with amazingly large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle including camels. His hope of conciliation were soon dashed when told by his returning servants that Esau aimed to come…with 400 of his men. This brought Jacob to his knees in prayer:

“O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Lord, You who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers and their children. But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.” (Gen 32:9-12, NIV)

In Jacob’s prayer, the significance isn’t just that it is the first officially recorded prayer in the Bible; it is also a prayer that brought Jacob his greatest victory – the schemer realised that to win, you must first lose.

Firstly Jacob approached God not just as the Creator but as Someone far more intimate. In acknowledging His covenants with Abraham and Isaac, Jacob was effectively affirming divine faithfulness. Check out in the Bible how the patriarchs revere and acknowledge Him. Nehemiah 1:5 calls out, “the great and awesome God.” Even Jesus taught us to pray, saying, “Hallowed by Your Name” (Matt 6:9).

Secondly Jacob, on his knees, gently reminded God of His promise. God had asked him to return home and He would prosper him. Even as so much of Scripture contains God’s many promises, it is our privilege to plead them before Him especially in trying times or when our walk becomes difficult. 2 Corinthians 12:9 as well as 2 Samuel 7:25 recall God’s abundant grace and that all avail to us. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God shall supply all your need” to which then, in our prayers, we can and should ask God, “Lord, do as You promised.”

Thirdly, observe Jacob saying he is unworthy of all of God’s kindnesses and faithfulness. He acknowledged that without God, he would not have prospered so immensely. In other words, Jacob was speaking from a position of humility, recognising that he had truly begun with nothing. If it weren’t for God, he would still have nothing.

Jacob’s humbleness is also apparent in the way he addresses himself before God. In reference elsewhere, he also considered himself ‘Esau’s servant’ and that Esau was his ‘lord’ (v4).

If we wish for God to fill us with renewed confidence and strengthen us, we must go before Him empty-handed, void of self-glorifying boastfulness and prideful glamour.

Fourthly, there is something else about Jacob’s prayer that we should pay close attention to. As he humbled himself, he was asking for deliverance not only for himself but in gently reminding God of His promise to make his descendants “like the sand in the sea, which cannot be counted,” he put forth his petition that none of this would be possible if “the mothers with their children” are harmed. Indeed the line of covenant could not go on if they were slain.

Two more things to round this up. Firstly prayer changes not only those who pray but also those for whom we pray. In Jacob’s prayer, God resolved to change Esau’s heart too. Secondly Jacob’s lesson to us is never to pray as a last resort (32:7,11) out of abject fear. Instead make prayer your first and foremost option.

In feeling as if he was about to lose everything, Jacob got on his knees and professed two important things before God. He admitted he would have been nothing if not for how the Lord prospered him and that he was now at the verge of truly losing everything he had in his life and that included the mothers and their children.

Humbling in the basest manner, as Jacob did, will impact the way in which we can communicate more effectively with God.